


Disappearing Act

by Sniper_Blue



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Be Careful What You Wish For, Gen, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 05:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18359666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sniper_Blue/pseuds/Sniper_Blue
Summary: Bad Things Happen BingoBe Careful What You Wish ForThe other paladins each wish for Keith to disappear at some point in their acquaintance. Kolivan can see that something is wrong and Lance is the first to realize that he was an integral part.





	Disappearing Act

**Author's Note:**

> Posted on Tumblr too, along with the bingo card. If you're interested, I'm snprblu72 there.

“Dios mío!” Lance shouted as Red darted in front of Blue and narrowly missed getting hit by the blast he had just sent toward their target. “Keith, you can’t do that!”

“ I just did,” he replied, entirely unconcerned by how close he had just come to being hit by one of his teammate’s shots.

Lance ground his teeth in annoyance. Some battles would be much easier if the Red Paladin was not part of the team. He was the one that caused so many issues between them and kept them from more easily forming Voltron. He even showed them all up just because he could, killing the easy vibe that the rest of them had with each other. Only Shiro seemed to be able to do anything about getting him to be more of a team player, but he could only do so much. He growled shortly to vent his frustration. If only Keith would disappear, it would all get better.

  


Shiro wanted to be selfish for one night. Adam was not a fan of him joining the Kerberos project, but was determined to make as much as they could out of the time they had left before the launch. They had just settled in for a relaxed evening when there was a knock on the door. His eyes shut and he took a deep breath before he got up to deal with the interruption only to find his mentee in the entryway.

As soon as he thought that he wished the kid would disappear so he could return to his boyfriend and the evening they had planned, he felt guilty. The kid had nobody except him and this had to be hard on him as well. He just wanted to have one quiet evening in with the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with - he was actually planning to propose when he returned from the expedition since he would then have enough to get a ring that would be good enough for Adam.

“ What’s wrong, Keith?”

  


Hunk grumbled as he tried to find the fruit they had picked up not long before that tasted like a mix of strawberries and bananas but had the look and feel of a peach. He had left it in a specific place, but with how many people came in for midnight snacks, he would not be surprised if it had been moved around. However, it appeared as if this particular thing was just gone. That was upsetting since it was supposed to be the main ingredient in the pie he was going to try and bake for Lance’s birthday and he did not want to have to try and find something to replace it on such short notice.

He rummaged through the refrigerator again and was just turning around to look through the cabinets for the third time when Keith entered the kitchen, one of the fruits he was looking for in hand, bite already taken from it.

“ Where are the rest of them?” he demanded, too frustrated to even think of being polite about asking.

Keith froze for a moment in the middle of sinking his teeth into the fruit before finishing the bite and chewing it. “I’ve been eating them the past few cycles?”

Hunk froze for a moment before he turned back to the kitchen with a growl. “Get out.”

“ Hunk?” the red paladin asked, concerned about what was going on and how him having eaten the fruits was a concern since they had not been labeled as belonging to someone or as being earmarked for something.

“ Just, get out. Disappear.”

  


Pidge had a system set up with the way she had everything arranged in her room and in Green’s hangar. Any deviation she did not either do herself or approve of someone else doing was something that she hated. As soon as she walked into the hangar, she could tell that something was different, something was wrong.

“ Who was in here last?” she questioned Green.

The picture she got in answer made her frown. There was probably a reason that Keith had come in looking for her, but then he had moved something. Ridiculous. Why did he even have to be there? He did not really have a purpose like the rest of them did. He got in Blue’s way frequently, showboating when he really should not. Why could they not have a better red paladin?

  


Allura frowned as she saw that the red paladin was in the training deck yet again. That seemed to be the only place he really went and it frustrated her to no end. Red could have chosen much better than him, or switched to another paladin after they had gotten her from the Galra. If he disappeared, everything would be so much easier. He was the only thing that got in the way of the rest of the paladins’ teamwork and threw wrenches into the plans made.

On top of that, she did not think he was truly worthy of wearing her father’s armor or piloting his Lion. He had absolutely no idea how to interact with people in a diplomatic capacity. Very rarely did he even have anything to do with any of the other paladins and he got in the way of a lot of the maneuvers they tried to pull in the field. She just wished that everything would go smoother and knew that it would when Keith was gone.

  


Kolivan was concerned. His newest recruit had not made the last check in, something he had never failed to do before. The young one could definitely take care of himself, but there were so many variables to take into account that he was not always the best at keeping track of. Perhaps it was not a good idea to have sent him on this particular mission, but nothing could be done about that now. He was there, he had missed his check in, something had gone wrong.

The normal protocol was to wait until the third missed check in before going in after an operative or even notifying anyone that the agent was involved with or related to. In Keith’s case, it was better to get a  jump start on everything based solely on the fact that he was a former paladin. He would still wait until the second missed check in before mounting any kind of rescue efforts, but it might take a while to get in contact with the other paladins, so it was better to contact them at this point than to wait.

Anticipating worried and fearful reactions, he was surprised to be greeted with mostly ambivalence at his announcement. He knew that they were faltering recently. Voltron formed very infrequently and, even then, was unstable. It was obvious to those in the know what the difference was that was causing the issue, but it did not seem as if the paladins themselves had figured the problem out. The Coalition was losing hope and losing faith in the competence of their savior, but those that formed Voltron were missing that, just as they were missing an integral piece.

Now he knew the reason that Keith seemed to believe he had little to no worth. How he was going to address that, he still had no idea. But, no matter what he decided, he first had to get him back.

  


Something was wrong, Lance knew. Something was wrong with the bonds between the Lions and their bonds as paladins. Everything seemed to take more effort and they all ended up with worse injuries and in longer fights than they used to. Not even that much had changed when Keith had switched to Black, he to Red, and Allura to Blue. The only thing that had changed since then was the fact that Black had finally taken Shiro back, but that should have made them work better together. The only variable was that Keith was gone. He never thought he would say it, but he actually rather missed the guy. He had been able to keep up with the rest of them for the most part and was steps ahead in some cases.

When Kolivan’s call came through, he could almost feel the ambivalence with which the rest of the paladins handled the call. Red, on the other hand, was furious and almost terrified for her former pilot, something he had kept off his face in the meeting to keep from being scolded later. She wanted to go to the Blade base and get in on the action she was sure was going on there.

He sighed. What did it say when the Galra that had known him for only phoebs treated Keith better than his own teammates, most of which had known him for years? Nothing good, that was for sure. And, by this time, he was regretting ever having wished that he would leave Voltron.


End file.
